The Dividend Aristocrats Index is comprised of 53 stocks that have paid dividends for 25+ consecutive years. In addition to the exclusive dividend history requirement, Dividend Aristocrats must also be members of the S&P 500 Index and meet certain size and liquidity requirements. The Dividend Aristocrats Index has outperformed the market by a wide margin over the last decade, is the image below shows.
Source: S&P Dividend Aristocrats Fact Sheet
List of All 53 Dividend Aristocrats
The spreadsheet (or picture) below lists all 53 Dividend Aristocrats for March of 2015. You can sort by dividend yield, standard deviation, growth rate, or payout ratio.
March 2015 Dividend Aristocrats List – Excel Download
March 2015 Dividend Aristocrats List – Picture Download
Explanation of Financial Metrics
The four financial metrics included in the spreadsheets are the same metrics used in the buy rules from The 8 Rules of Dividend Investing, and in the Sure Dividend Newsletter. A brief explanation of each metric is below. All data is from the market close 2-27-15.
Dividend Yield
Dividend yield is calculated as 4 x most recent dividend / current price. This is the standard calculation for dividend yield and shows what percentage of dividend income you can expect on your investment in the first year (assuming no dividend increases or reductions).
Standard Deviation
Standard deviation in the spreadsheet above is calculated over a stock's 10 year price history (when available). Long-term price histories are used to reduce the effects of unusually high or low volatility in the recent past. Interestingly, stocks with low price standard deviations have historicallyoutperformed the market. Better price returns have (obviously) come with lower ‘risk' as defined by academics due to lower stock price standard deviation. I don't believe standard deviation to be a true measure of risk, but it is a good proxy for measuring real risk. It has worked to improve returns historically; the historical record should not be ignored.
